Frances R. Schmidt

Memories of my Chocolate Ladies

Lately, my author Fran has been dropping by regularly to watch the progress happening to my outside, the part of me that passerby’s see on their way to and from their busy lives. Fran recently looked up into my windows and said, “It won’t be long before your legacy is told, Fred!”.  The last time she visited, she mentioned her meeting with someone important from Fowler’s Chocolate Company and told him about the special connection to “My Chocolate Ladies”.  Alice and Hannah (you’ll meet them later when my book is published), a mother and daughter who resided in my walls in 1951 were hired then, to work in the Fowler’s Chocolate Factory as “chocolate dippers”.

I remember it as if it were yesterday when the ladies had immigrated to America from York, England. They then lived with me for 21 years.  Why they came to America is a longer story, one that involves World War II, The Roundtree Chocolate Factory owned by The Quakers, and Buffalo’s own Fowler’s Chocolate Factory, but they are the reason I love chocolate.  I can’t taste it, but I do know how it smells, and I also know how much my tenants loved it too.  Bobby Mooney, the little nine-year-old Irish boy, was the only tenant I could communicate with, through telepathy.  He told me how it tastes and feels, melting in his mouth.  It seems so very decadent and delicious.

When you read my novel, you will have an inside view of how Alice and Hannah had a major impact on many tenants and their families when they moved in, each receiving a little brown bag of chocolates along with a dinner invitation.  My “chocolate ladies” acts of kindness broke down barriers of misunderstanding between diverse tenants, and created lifelong friendships and new cultural understanding.

Come back in time and experience my memory of the unexpected power of chocolate and friendship.

 

Thank you for Believing in Me!

Having a voice of my own is new to me and frankly, I never really thought it would ever happen. I know we apartment buildings don’t typically talk. We usually only listen and exist to provide shelter to our tenants. When I think about my life and the lives of generations I was able to connect with, it does boggle my mind.

Having the ability to share my tenants’ tales in the historical period they lived is miraculous and I know that it wouldn’t have happened if it also wasn’t for Fran’s co- researchers, Pat Smyton and Janet Mazzaroppi. The team of three, Fran, Pat, and Janet, called themselves the Orphan Building Research Team, but because of these three ladies, I definitely no longer feel orphaned. I also must tell you about Jane Hauser, who was my hero of a typist and rescued my author from her handwritten manuscript that needed multiple revisions.

My opportunity to be published wouldn’t have happened if the major research wasn’t completed, and although it took a six-year period of time, it was worth the wait. Without my excellent super achiever researchers, Fran feels that this book project would have taken at least ten years to complete on her own.  What I’ve also learned is that the research doesn’t stop, as there has even been a little more research completed during the content editing process.

Pat S. was the first of the team to say yes to Fran’s invitation to become a historical researcher, followed quickly by a second yes from Janet M.  They both had very busy lives, but slowly became dedicated through Fran, to finding out the reason I pleaded for help. Gradually, the research process unfolded and now they are all seasoned researchers.  Fran, Pat, Janet, and Jane also now consider themselves the female version of the four Musketeers instead of three, which makes me smile. All this because of me, and I find that both amazing and humbling!

I can’t end this blog of thanks without sharing my appreciation and love for my “Fred’s Friends”, as their support has been invaluable. They are all listed on my website and I can’t believe that the list keeps growing!

There’s so much more to tell you, but for this blog, I wanted to say thank you!

With much gratitude, Fred

 

Hi, I’m Fred

My Novice Novelist blog has now transitioned to FRED’S MEMORIES, a blog written through the voice of FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams.  Currently in the publication process, the book will be available in 2021 through BookBaby Publishing.

Hi. My name is FRED and this is my very first blog. I’m an apartment building who has waited patiently to tell the story about many of the tenants who lived in my building from 1900-2018. I tried to get someone to listen, but it was decades before someone actually heard my plea.  Finally, in 2006 Fran Schmidt, the woman in the black Toyota, heard my voice.  It took her another six years to actually begin work on this multi-period historical fiction novel, but my story started to come to fruition in 2012 when she began writing about me.

I want her to know I appreciate her, her research partners, and the new friends and acquaintances who believe in me and my tales.  They all make me feel so alive! Great thanks also goes out to the BookBaby Publishing for publishing this novel in 2021.

I am so excited that I’m actually still standing and currently undergoing a preservation process.  My new apartments will be authentic and almost like they were when I was first built and will then be the home to a new generation of tenants with their own amazing stories! My own blog is launching now because I want my potential readers to be excited too.

You will learn interesting historical information decade-by-decade…about how I came alive and lived vicariously through the lives of many of my immigrants, refugees, internal migrants, and descendants of enslaved peoples of Africa, They were German, Sicilian, Italian, Irish, Polish, Hungarian, Canadian, English, French, Puerto Rican, Jewish and African American.

I provided shelter and comfort to my tenants after they had experienced extreme poverty and the effects of war and other traumas. Freedom was the common denominator that tied each generation of tenants together regardless of their backgrounds. I’m not human, but I have learned first-hand through these amazing people, what it’s like to be one.

I can’t wait to tell you more…

 

The Woman in the Black Toyota

I wouldn’t have a novel being published about me without the woman in the black Toyota.  It took decades for someone to hear me and I don’t know if it was by chance or fate, but through telepathy she was the only one able to hear my plea. “Please tell my story before it’s too late.”

In the Spring of 2006, she drove by me looking puzzled, at 8:15 a.m., on the busy Niagara Street on the West Side of Buffalo, New York I call home.  When she turned with a lingering look in my direction, I thought maybe a miracle had occurred and hoped it wasn’t my imagination.

For the next several years, I saw her black Toyota pass by me and noticed that she always turned her head in my direction. I would see her stop by weekly at Carm and Sal’s Gas Station, directly across the street from me. She would buy gas and visit for five or ten minutes, talking to either the father or the son who pumped her gas. I watched as they all would glance in my direction or point to the changes taking place on the outside of my building.

Although I was unable to communicate with her directly, I knew she heard me, and I never gave up hope that she would tell my story. Time was taking its toll and I kept deteriorating a little bit at a time.  I was becoming slightly desperate because I wanted to share my rich history with current and future generations before it was too late.  I wanted people to have the opportunity to honor my tenants who were immigrants, refugees, internal migrants, and descendants of enslaved Peoples of Africa; their tales paying tribute to their struggle for freedom, and their lives proud legacies for current and future generations of Americans.

Then it happened and I’ll never, ever forget 2012.  This was the year the woman in the black Toyota pulled right up in front of my building and spoke to me.  “Here I am FRED.  I’m here to learn more about you and begin researching your story.  I have to find out why you spoke to me.   Never in my whole life has a building talked to me.”

Eventually, I found out that when she first saw me…heard me…she was shocked and couldn’t believe what had just happened to her. She rushed into her office which was not very far down the road from me, and scribbled down notes on a scrap pieces of paper.  As the years passed by, she told everyone she worked with about me, Building #1469 on the corner of Niagara Street and Potomac Avenue. That was me before I got a real name.  Fred.

I’ll tell you more about how her research team emerged next time. I can’t wait.

 

It’s Happening Soon!

FRED and I are getting excited because soon the editorial process will be complete and FRED: Buffalo Building Of Dreams, a multi-period novel will be published in the early of Spring of 2021 through BookBaby Publishing.

The Revision Process

Hard work is now underway for this Novice Novelist.  I’m currently making revisions and changes as suggested by my developmental editor and have a deadline of two months to complete my task.  Yesterday I was able to spend a significant number of hours on the manuscript and will have hundreds more to go before I finish. There are many goals that must be achieved before Fred’s words will reach readers. It’s important to stay focused and I’m learning the importance of constructive feedback. It’s exciting and challenging at the same time, and I love revisiting Fred’s tale through the process.

I’m only guessing how many hours it will take for me to finish working on Fred’s novel, but will spend as many hours as necessary to finish the work on time or earlier.  How grateful I am to have expert advice.  Writing a novel is a process that continues long after the book has been completed, revised several times, and pre-publication edited. I hope to tell Fred’s story with his strong voice filled with the emotions he felt by being a good listener.

I’ve written Fred’s story longhand and have rewritten each chapter multiple times. I have to feel the words as I write them. Needless to say, I do have two fingers I use to write with that stand out from the others. I look at both and smile because there’s nothing I can do about it.  If they feel stiff I bend them backwards and they are pen ready again.

Somehow, I was selected to take this journey back in time.  Before Fred’s voice spoke to me my books were nonfiction.  Now I have an appreciation for history and have learned the importance of research.  My characters are all important and Fred’s novel is a legacy of hope for all generations.  My message to beginning historical novelists is to keep writing and work hard to get your story completed no matter how long it takes. It’s a journey with twists and turns before your widened path leads to a chance to move forward to publication.

 

Fred, Buffalo’s Building of Dreams Architect, Edward F. Pickett, sets the stage for decades of unique characters

It happened in 2006 when this story was destined to be told.  The building’s voice haunted me for another six years before I could begin the research on the dilapidated empty four-story apartment building located on the corner of Niagara and Potomac on Buffalo, New York’s West Side.  It talked to me via mental telepathy, as I passed by on my way to work.

In 2012, I vowed to find out why I heard the building’s plea.  “Please tell my story before evidence of my existence is gone.”  Now looking back in time, I realize it was the beginning of a compelling story waiting to be told about the legacy of many of “Fred’s” tenants and their families who lived in the building from 1900 through 2020.

An Orphan Building Research Team of three was organized, including me and at the time, Pat, Janet and I were novice historical researchers.  After six more years, we became seasoned researchers with a detailed biography of an apartment building growing up in the 20^th Century and beyond.

We couldn’t wait to find out who built apartment building 1469! Our team discovered that forty-two year old Irish-American Edward F. Pickett was the architect. His father was a laborer and his mother was a seamstress who lived on the West Side of Buffalo, New York.

Edward was a go-getter and by 1895 he was employed by Bull & Brown, a local bicycle manufacturer located on Main and Chippewa Streets in the City of Buffalo, New York.  There he became a department manager, skilled in developing bicycle-related patents.  By 1896, he was Vice President and Secretary of the Non Punctual Tire Company.  Within a year he was a draftsman for the Great Northern Fire Elevator Company, a storage facility.  Our research team was amazed by his achievements and traced him as long as possible, but had to move on mainly because we had to find out was who building 1469’s builder and first owner?

These important people in the history of 1469 Niagara St.; the architect, builder, and first owner, constructed the framework for an enormous cast of characters.   The individuals arrived in my mind only after extensive research going back in time, year by year, reviewing major historical events in Buffalo and America, both nationally and internationally, focusing on the effects on immigrants, refugees, internal migrants, and descendants of enslaved peoples of Africa who arrived in Buffalo between 1900 and 2020.

Each character revealed themselves slowly only after reviewing and re-reading research notes for hours and hours at a time. Then, there was a second and third wave of notes with character ideas that fit perfectly into the historical period of time.  Gradually, all my characters felt like an extended family and I tried to make them speak the way they would if they were alive today.  Each chapter was written and rewritten at least three or more times until I felt satisfied.  Many character questions had to be answered.  For example, why did they move into the building? What were their back stories? How did they handle hardships, loss, and despair?  What happened to them in the future? How did they survive and have hope for life in America?

Our team identified each tenant that lived in the building from 1900 to 2020, including their ages, occupations, family members, borders, and employment, knowing it was impossible to be completely accurate because of possible recording errors.  It took about two years before building #1469 got the name Fred and readers of the unusual reason knew why first hand. Edward F. Pickett was a remarkable character and little did he know he was setting the stage for a legacy of many generations.

Buffalo’s West Side Renaissance- The Mentholatum Company, Fred and Me

Buffalo’s West Side Renaissance was well underway when I discovered that the Mentholatum Company was in the process of being repurposed as a 54 market-rate apartment building with commercial or retail space.  Hearing this news made me think about how the Metholatum Company first came to my attention.

It happened when two new tenants, Hungarian brothers, and characters of my imagination moved into one of Fred’s second floor apartments back in 1965.  The brothers could only afford to move into the building because they were hired to work at the Mentholatum Company.  They worked as boxers and packers of products for distribution to all parts of the free world, which also included filling orders in many different languages.

The Company was built in 1919 and had natural sunlight, was clean and spotless, with modern equipment.  The Mentholatum Company took crystals of menthol taken from hermetically sealed cans and compounded them in glass and tanks.  The product was used as an external application for the cure of many inflammations including sore throats, ear aches, headaches, chapped hands and more.  The company also donated almost two hundred thousand jars of Mentholatum to help win the release of Cuban invasion prisoners in 1965.

Writing about Fred and his dream of leaving a legacy of hope to honor all of the tenants he was able to observe and connect with over a hundred twenty year period of time, was a challenge.  For myself and co-researchers Janet Mazzaroppi and Patricia Smyton, it was a decades-long history lesson with multiple twists and turns.  My goal was to discover time-tested factual information and create realistic characters who share what their life was like in their historical period of time.

Fred the building, was my inspiration and through unusual circumstances managed to take me on the adventure of a lifetime.  Writing this new novel was tough because I want to give my readers a personal view of what this novice novelist experienced in the past nine years.  To be honest my characters became an extended family.  Often when I talked about them to my researchers and “Fred’s Friends” they asked me if the characters were real.

Please visualize a gigantic inflated balloon filled with historical research such as story lines, drafts, outlines, revisions, ideas, scraps of paper without lines, questions looking for answers and answers, and notebooks piled high, that kept generating more questions and interview topics.  I was afraid it was going to burst open before I finished the book.  Year after year, each topic inside my balloon was explored.  There was nothing in the balloon that showed me exactly what to do first or last.  I was excited, driven, and determined to tell Fred’s story, like he dreamed it would be told.

Then it happened in 2020.  My balloon burst into a full-fledged historical novel ready for publication. It is the culmination of FRED’s dream to seal his tenants legacy of hope for current and future generations of immigrants, refugees, internal migrants and his descendants of peoples of Africa who also lived in his apartment building.

 

Research Puzzle Pieces

Research puzzle pieces became the roots of this historical novel.  They were the seeds of decades of historical facts that had to be rechecked multiple times to ensure their accuracy.  My large manila envelopes became a constant reference regarding Fred’s building.

Year by year, each envelope was filled with tiny and large bits of valuable information I could find easily tucked into their proper envelopes.  Edward F. Pickett, the architect, John C. Muessen, the builder, and Evelina Spanner, the building’s first real owner come alive fictitiously on the pages of this book.  My readers will learn about their lives in the context of the historical times they lived in.

The hardest part of creating each character took place after I reread inches of truth-based research. Janet and Pat were diligent partners with excellent questions and ideas I could use to explore the unknown. I believe it was Fred’s plea for help that created a constant desire in me find out why I was selected to write his story, before evidence of his existence was gone.

What surprised our Orphan Building Research Team of three the most was how vital it was to provide accurate historical information about what life was like for all of the characters in the novel. Over the decades Fred was often a quiet observer without their knowledge.  He was only able to communicate via mental telepathy to three people. All of his other tenants in the book were quietly observed and honored while he learned what it was like being human, yet knowing he would never be one.   Before I knew it, each character became real, almost like family in my mind’s eye. I feel privileged to have been able to peek into their lives and with Fred’s help, putting Research Puzzle Pieces together into a legacy of hope for all generations.

It wasn’t long before I realized I had to figure out how to organize all the research our team was generating about our sad looking apartment building, number 1469.  It was important to find a way to make it easier to categorize the research and I was worried about how long it would take before the novel’s first draft would appear on paper.

I had to write the entire book in long hand because it was the only way I could make the novel could come alive. It was a challenging process.  First, I had to read the research over and over and it was a struggle to create the first chapter. It took a lot of thinking, writing, and constantly revisiting our research. I began by describing building 1469’s current physical state and then decided to describe what he looked like as a brand new building in 1900.  His current physical condition was poor, except for his structural integrity.

As often as I could, I drove by Fred and waved to an empty building. For the first couple of months building 1469 had no name.  But in a future blog, I’ll tell you an amazing story about how he was named and wondered if it was by chance or fate.

For a while I continued to use my small white one inch notebooks with the subject matter inserted in a plastic holder on the front of the notebooks.  When they could no longer hold any more information I transferred the research into several large three to four inch notebooks.  The building’s ownership was traced backwards from 2012 back to 1900 and then forward to 2015 when the book ends.

It was a priority to find a way to be able to find all the information immediately.  I’m not good at looking at file folder labels, so I selected extra-large manila envelopes, twenty-seven of them, and filled each one of them with priceless knowledge from the past.